Update: 7:31pm pacific: A new Associated Press report has confirmed that at least 54 people are dead. My Fox Atlanta is also reporting that a government building is gone.

Tuscaloosa, Ala. - The mayor of an Alabama city hit hard by a tornado says at least 15 people have died there, bringing the death toll from severe weather to 54 around the South.

In all, 40 people died in Wednesday's storms in Alabama.

Update: Cullman County Alabama has been devastated. This now being labeled one of the largest tornado outbreaks in American history. At 31 people have died.

The Weather Channel is reporting that mass fatality trailers are being brought to Alabama. Massive devastation with debris falling up to a 100 miles away.

Mass Causalities units have been requested in Catoosa County Georgia where a State of Emergency has been declared. A report on the Weather Channel indicates that a 3 story building has been destroyed in Georgia.

Update: Cullman County Alabama has been devastated. This now being labeled one of the largest tornado outbreaks in American history. At least 31 people have died.

Tuscaloosa's mayor said sections of the city that's home to the University of Alabama had been destroyed by a massive tornado. News footage showed paramedics lifting a child out of a flattened home there, with many neighboring buildings in the city of more than 77,000 also reduced to rubble. Fox 19

Tuscaloosa, Alabama - A massive tornado touched down Wednesday in Tuscaloosa, AL, damaging a local hospital and causing at least one fatality. The tornado continued on the ground as it made its way toward downtown Birmingham, AL.

This is at least the second tornado in 12 days to touch down in Tuscaloosa.

Druid City Hospital is still able to treat patients, according to a statement posted on its website. More information about the hospital would be made available later.

A spokeswoman for Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox, Heather McCollum, said the mayor planned to personally survey the destruction.